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\)t (j)ee-\^^peps 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to the Interests of Honey Producers. 

 $1.00 A YEAR. 

 w. z. HUTCHiNSCN, Editor HDil Proprletoi 



VOL. XVI. FLINT, MICHIGAN, OCT. 10, 1903. NO. 10. 



t^ %«• ti5» 



! 



HE CELLAR WINTER- 

 ING OF BEES. BY R. 

 L. TAYLOR. 



One who proposes the 

 buihliiig of a cellar to be 

 used as a receptacle for 

 his bees during winter 

 should first inforui him- 

 self with regard to the ad- 

 vantages generally attributed to that 

 method of wintering bees, as well as with 

 regard to its disadvantages, so that, in 

 bui'diug, he mav give his cellar such a 

 character as to secure, as far as possible, 

 the former, and to provide as best he may 

 against the latter. Accordingly, these 

 advantages and disadvantages first claim 

 our attention. 



PROTECTION THE CHIEF ADVANTAGE OF 

 CEIvI^AR WINTERING. 

 The chief advantage of this method of 

 wintering bees is the protection it gives 

 ihem against the severe weather of win- 

 ter. I call this the chief advantage — I 

 might say the only advantage, for con- 

 serving the vigor of the bees, decreasing 

 the per cent, of lost colonies, and the 

 greatly increased economy in the con- 

 sumption of stores, are all advantages re- 

 sulting from protection, and, therefore, 

 do not call for consideration in this con- 

 nection. 



PROPER PROTECTION AND CONVENIENCE 

 OF ACCESS ARE TWO MOST IMPOR- 

 TANT POINTS. 

 The disadvantages, as I look at it, are 

 the liability that the temperature will 

 h.'ive a tendency to run loo high when 

 the sun travels north in llie spring, there- 

 by exciting the bees, inducing untimely 

 breetling and the wasting of mature bees, 

 and the necessity of carrying the bees 

 ir.lo the cellar in the fall and out of it in 

 the spring. The first disailva.itage is to 

 be provided against by giving appropri- 

 ate character to the proleciion to be pro- 

 vided, bringing the item under the head 

 of protection, so there are but two main 

 points to be kept in view in fixing the 

 location and in the building of an under- 

 ground receptacle for bees, proper pro- 

 tection and convenience of access. It 

 will be found very profitable in the pre- 

 vention of an endless amount of annoy- 

 ance and anxiety to look well to these 

 two particulars. 



IMPORT.VNCE OF THE I^OC.\TION OF AN 

 ENTRANCE TO A BEE CELLAR. 



To provide the most satisfactory en- 

 trance, the cellar should be placed in a 

 side hill having a slope more or less 

 abrupt; the slope, of course, being upon 

 the side where the entrance is desired, 

 and, as an aid to the securing of perfect 

 protection, it should be upon the north 

 or east of the cellar: for it is easier to 



